Leesville Road sails past Ashley to baseball tourney title

Matt Saylor came up with big pitch after big pitch during the championship game of the Coastal Athletics 2011 Spring Break Baseball Tournament.

By Tim Hower & Powell LatimerSports@StarNewsOnline.com

Matt Saylor came up with big pitch after big pitch during the championship game of the Coastal Athletics 2011 Spring Break Baseball Tournament.The Raleigh Leesville Road righty worked out of jams in every inning but the second, striking out eight Ashley hitters en route to a 9-5 win on Thursday night at Ashley."That's only Matt's second start this year, and he threw very good against a very good team tonight," Leesville Road coach Chad Smothers said. "He kept bailing us out with some strikeouts and got some of their big hitters out in some key situations."The Screaming Eagles (13-5) stranded 11 runners, eight of which were in scoring position. They left runners on third in the first, third and sixth innings."We didn't get the hits when we needed to, but that kid's breaking ball was very effective tonight," Ashley coach Brian Stewart said.Leesville Road (15-2) scored two runs in the first inning despite not getting a hit. Logan Bible reached on an error. Saylor was hit by a pitch and Austin Berrios walked to load the bases with no outs. Ryan Mulligan drew another walk to plate a run and Saylor scored on a passed ball before Ashley starter Trevor Kelley struck out the side.The score remained the same until the fifth when Berrios drove in a run with a single. Saylor scored from third and and Berrios from second three pitches later when Kelly threw a wild pitch and went down in pain. He was unable to cover home and by the time first baseman Brian Stokes got to the plate it was too late.The Pride led 9-1 heading into the seventh, before Ashley started to find holes and scored four runs.

Laney tried to play the matchups in the sixth inning, and Northwest Guilford made the Bucs pay.With a one-run lead in the top of the sixth, the Bucs went to their bullpen and inserted Pete Wildeboer to try and get out of the inning. But instead of struggling with the pitching change, Northwest Guilford pounced. Nick Mahaffy led off the inning with a single and two runs came home to swing the game in favor of Northwest."Randy was absolutely great on the mound," Laney assistant coach Aaron Livengood said. "I just thought we had a better matchup. We got a couple pitches in there that just didn't go our way."The Bucs were strong defensively for much of the game, but a three-run first inning set them behind. A steady rally of one run an inning put Laney back on top in the fifth before the Northwest rally."They got three runs when they really should have only gotten one," Livengood said. "We still continue to give teams more runs than we're capable of getting back."Randy Shifftlett kept Northwest in check for much of the game, recovering from a poor first inning to pitch out of jams and around the Northwest hitters and keep the margin from growing.Despite the loss, Laney remains in a decent position heading into the home stretch of the regular season. At 2-5 in the Mideastern Conference, hope still remains to secure a playoff spot."If we win these last three ballgames we're definitely in," Livengood said. "If we win two out of three we'll see what happens."

In the fourth inning, Hoggard's Billy Vaughn was looking for an inside fastball.He got one – and blasted it over the left fielder, the left field fence, another fence and into the neighborhood that backs up to Ashley stadium for a three-run shot.Such was the story of Hoggard's fifth-place victory, as the Vikings continued to vent their frustrations after a first-day 19-5 loss at the hands of Leesville Road."That's exactly what we were after," Vaughn said. "Just to rebound back and get these two wins and head on into conference."After Wednesday's 16-1 win against Rockingham County, Hoggard's bats stayed hot with eight hits in five innings of play. "The last two days, we've really swung the bat like we're capable," Hoggard coach Jeep St. Ledger said. "It's a lot more enjoyable that way."Vaughn followed up his three-run shot with the game-ending RBI double in the fifth.On the mound, Joe O'Donnell was dominant, fanning nine in five innings of work and keeping the Patriots scoreless."He's hard to it," St.Ledger said. "We clocked him the other day at 89 mph, and I think he was throwing at least that hard today. He had some pop."

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